Proposed Budget (Government Plan) 2026-2029 (P.70/2025): twenty-third amendment (P.70/2025 Amd.(23)) – comments. Increased Police funding
This content has been automatically generated from the original PDF and some formatting may have been lost, therefore it should not be relied upon to extract citations or propose amendments. Please see the PDF for the official version of the document.
STATES OF JERSEY
PROPOSED BUDGET (GOVERNMENT PLAN) 2026-2029 (P.70/2025): TWENTY-
THIRD AMENDMENT (P.70/2025 AMD.(23)) – COMMENTS
Presented to the States on 4th December 2025 by the Council of Ministers
STATES GREFFE
2025 P.70 Amd.(23) Com.
COMMENTS
It is recognised that this amendment is a well-intentioned attempt to support the States of Jersey Police, and is evidence in particular of the value placed in community policing officers.
However, it is not considered a suitable or sustainable approach to addressing recognised police funding challenges.
The Minister for Justice and Home Affairs is alive to the pressures in the funding of the States of Jersey Police and is committed to addressing this issue in a considered way.
Our Police Force do an exemplary job in keeping islanders safe, but like all areas across the public service, have been required to operate with increasing efficiencies to meet savings requirements in recent years. It is acknowledged that this has put the force in an increasingly challenging position.
Part of this is driven by increasing demand as result of the focus on Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG), particularly in safeguarding and complex crime.
Notably, there has been a 27% increase in VAWG offences and a 24% increase in sexual offences which includes RaSSO (Rape and Serious Sexual Offences), generating a significant growth in operational workload for officers and staff.
Legislative changes, such as the introduction of new offences as part of the Government's VAWG work programme (e.g. stalking, non-fatal strangulation, sexual offences in public places, and online offences like "cyber flashing"), are also expected to further increase demand on investigative teams.
The Minster for Justice and Home Affairs has a plan for strategically addressing these impacts across the criminal justice system, which is referenced in the Draft Budget, on page 44, as follows:
It is also clear that the successful implementation of Violence Against Women and Girls legislation will require additional resources for the Police and other departments, who are already seeing increased demand in these areas. The financial implications will be considered as part of the proposition proposing the new legislation and will be included in Budget 2027
Work is already underway, coordinated under the Building a Safer Community (BASC) Framework, to analyse the data we hold to cost the impacts across the criminal justice system as a whole.
It must be acknowledged that it is not only the Police who face increasing demand; from the Courts and Law Officers' Department to the Prison and support services, the impacts of increasing demand are felt across the system, and require a system wide approach to address.
These costs will be included in the financial and manpower implications when bringing new VAWG legislation before the Assembly in early 2026, and subsequently developed into a business case for funding in the next Budget.
This represents an approach to funding which is based on evidence and captures the broadest system wide impacts. Equally, and perhaps most importantly, it provides transparency to the Assembly of the true implications of the introduction of the legislation under consideration.
What are the changes to Community Policing
In the meantime, a decision has been taken enhance SoJP's investigative capability and capacity by taking the following actions:
• Investment in RASSO (Rape and Serious Sexual Offences) investigators, with seven additional officers dedicated to safeguarding investigations.
• An enhanced Criminal Investigations Department (CID), merging financial, drug, and mainstream investigations for unified crime management to increase capacity and capability.
• Recruitment of ten new local police officers to address vacancies and ensure continuity of service (Starting Jan. 2026.)
• Changes to the structure of the Community Policing Team (CPT) to include:
Combining with the Offender Management Unit (OMU) into a new Police Community Safety Policing Team (PCST.) This integration creates a single, specialist team focused on visible policing, problem-solving, and the management of offenders living in our parishes.
These changes are designed to ensure SOJP remains effective, efficient, and focused on public safety, while also supporting officer and staff wellbeing and adapting to the island's evolving needs.
These changes will be introduced at the start of 2026 and will be periodically reviewed to ensure we are responding to islanders needs.
Insufficiency of proposed funding
Members will also wish to note that the proposed funding is not sufficient to achieve the Panel's intended outcome.
It is the Panel's stated intention that £193,000 of the proposed funding would be used to increase the capacity of the community policing team by 3 officers.
This equates to £64,000 per officer, which is based on a police officer at PLCO2 grade, and the Panel have included pay scales to support this.
However, the actual cost of employing any member of staff exceeds the basic rate of pay, social security and pension contributions must also be accounted for. The actual cost of a police officer at that grade would be £78,501 per annum.
In addition, when budgeting for officer numbers, the standard approach is to use the PLCO8 grade, at a total cost per officer of £89,781.57.
With these factors taken into account, the Panel's proposed £193,000 would only provide sufficient funding for 2 officers, and therefore is not sufficient to achieve their intended outcome.
Operational independence
Notwithstanding issues in relation to the sufficiency of the proposed funding, there is also a question as to whether it is appropriate for Government, or indeed the Assembly, to seek to prescribe how policing resources are deployed.
Members will be familiar with the principle of operational independence which is a fundamental principle of policing.
This principle is the subject of a Policing Protocol agreement between the Minister for Justice and Home Affairs, Chief Officer and Jersey Police Authority which was updated and re-signed earlier this year. Two of the protocol's core principles are operational independence and non-interference.
It is essential that the Chief Officer is empowered to deploy the resources available to him in accordance with his assessment of where it is needed.
If this Amendment is approved, it will not change the fundamental principle that operational matters remain the sole purview of the States of Jersey Police, without interference.
Therefore, it would be a matter for the Chief Officer to decide how to utilise any additional resources allocated to the States of Jersey Police.
Impact on health service provision
The amendment is predicated on the proposal that the funding proposed for Health and Care Jersey would be reduced by £240k and, whilst £240k is a relatively small proportion of the £15.6 million HCJ's total new funding allocation, it is critical to recognise that these monies have been allocated with the express purpose of addressing a long-standing structural financial deficit that arises from year-on-year increases in both demand for services and cost of services.
The increase in demand is driven by more people requiring care; more people living with disease (e.g. diabetes and dementia); the availability of new or improved diagnostics and treatments and changing public expectations about the provision of services.
The increase in costs of services is driven by multiple external factors, many of which are common across the British Isles and outside of the direct control of the Health and Care Jersey (for example: hospital drug cost increases of 4.9% per year over and above RPI inflation; NHS tariff increases of 5.2% in 2022 and 5% in 2023; increases in utility costs).
The additional £15.6m will help to stabilise current service provision, they are not sufficient to drive improvements to care and any reduction in those monies will have direct impact on the services provided to Islanders.
Conclusion
Ultimately, whilst this amendment would provide additional resources to SOJP at a time of some financial strain, it would be insufficient to make a meaningful difference and
does not take into account the wider pressures across the criminal justice system, which this government has a plan to address.
At the same time as not resolving the problem it is intended to solve, it would result in a loss of funding to Health and Care Jersey which would have a direct impact on service provision.
The Council of Ministers recommended the States reject this amendment.